Panama Outbound Day 9

Hi everyone,
At noon today we were at 02 17S 089 02W steering 225M, sailing under full main and single-furled yankee at 5 knots.  The wind was 9G12 from the S.  Our noon to noon distance by the log was 113nm.

Rainstorms & Rainbows

At noon yesterday we changed ship's time to UTC-6.  So our noon to noon run will be 25 hours tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon we motor-sailed into a light SW wind after a line of rainstorms passed overhead.  Behind the line the seas were confused and motoring into them (at an angle) was our best option.  We had begun to hope conditions were settling so it was frustrating to find ourselves motoring yet again.

Motoring into the Sunset

We motored until 2000 and then had a nice sail until 0330 when the motor had to come on again.  More frustration!  At 0445 the wind reappeared and the engine has been shut down since.  That's after 100 hours running on this passage (so far!).

Breakfast at Dawn

This morning we had a great sail, close-hauled on port tack.  We were passing 60nm clear of the Galapagos Islands to our NW.  Onyx and Xora were 45nm to our N.  It's been a tough nine days escaping into the South Pacific.  Way to much motoring for our liking!

We're pretty confident the wind will hold in for us now.  Our next goal is to work our way S into the trades.  We'll probably do that gradually, sailing SW initially.  Where before our goal was 'go south' it is becoming 'go west'.

Trust all's well where you are.